bungee-jumping hearts
by you are my elysium
Summary: She catches him watching her, and she promptly goes cross-eyed and sticks her tongue out at him. He can't help it - he laughs. He's never seen anything quite like her, with her bouncy steps and straight-forwardness. It's a small moment in time, barely lasting a few seconds, but in those few moments when they had each other's full attention, Scorpius starts falling.


**Hello folks! So this is the first story I've written in quite awhile, and it took forever to actually work up the energy and motivation to write it, but yeah... and I also apologise in advance for the sucky first sentence but I couldn't think of another way to start it and so I just shrugged and said to myself that I hope the rest of the story makes up for it. **

**Also, I've never written Scorpius/Lily before (I've always been a bit more of a Scorpius/Rose and Teddy/Lily person), so I'd be interested to know what you guys think of it (HINT HINT :D). **

**And, before I forget, thank you so much to Not Enough Answers for looking over this fic and assuring me that everything was okay :P.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

It's unexpected, not what's supposed to happen. He sees her at King's Cross, sees her wave off her parents' words of advice and hop around on one leg impatiently as her parents give her a stern look.

She catches him watching her, and she promptly goes cross-eyed and sticks her tongue out at him, much to her mother's disapproval.

He can't help it - he laughs. He's never seen anything quite like her, with her bouncy steps and straight-forwardness. It's a small moment in time, barely lasting a few seconds, but in those few moments when they had each other's full attention, Scorpius starts falling.

* * *

"Potter, Lily!"

The little girl steps jauntily forward and plonks herself down on the three-legged stool. If it weren't for her clenched fists, one might think that she was one of the unusual first-years that thought the Sorting was all fun-and-games, rather than something that would affect you for the next seven years of your life.

The Hat slides down over her head until only her lips are in sight. The two appear to argue with each other for a few seconds, her lips moving quickly and determinedly before curving into a smile as the Hat makes its decision.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hall erupts into applause and the girl bounces down to take a seat at the Hufflepuff table, receiving claps on the back and cheerful smiles from her new Housemates.

He sees her brothers walk speedily over to her table and whisper congratulatory words, too, before returning to the Gryffindor table to watch the rest of the Sorting.

Scorpius doesn't really know why, but his gaze remains fixed up on her, as though waiting for her to do something to make him smile. She glances up at him and offers him a broad grin, which he returns somewhat tentatively.

Lourdes Zabini, sitting next to him, notices his smile. "Who're you looking at? Got your eye on some girl? Or is it a boy that's made you smile?"

Scorpius startles, turning scarlet at the girl's wink. "Shut up."

On his other side, Bellamy Flint sniggers and opens his mouth to comment, but Scorpius silences him with a deadly glare. Although the glare stops Bellamy from actually saying something, it doesn't stop the boy from dissolving into a bundle of snickers, winks, raised eyebrows and nudges.

* * *

Scorpius doesn't really have much to do with Lily Potter over the next two years - after all, he's not in any classes with her, he doesn't share any friends with her and he's not even in the same House as her. The most he ever does with her is exchange a smile or perhaps a nod of acknowledgement.

Besides, at fifteen he starts to discover the opposite gender and all the ups and downs that a relationship with said gender can bring.

He's sitting next to Millie Davis near the Black Lake one Saturday afternoon, trying desperately to finish an Arithmancy essay that's a little too overdue for his liking (he silently curses the day that he decided to take Arithmancy). She's lying on her back and gazing up at the drifting clouds, eyes flickering as they follow the fluffy white clouds on their journey across the wide blue sky.

Flies are buzzing around their heads lazily, the sound giving him a headache. He half-heartedly tries to swat them away, but there are too many of them for his feeble attempts to make much of a dent in their numbers.

He's not sure exactly how it happens, but one minute he's crossing out a spelling mistake on the parchment, and the next minute Millie is no longer lying down by his side, but is instead gazing into his eyes intently, searchingly.

"Have you ever had a girlfriend, Scorpius?" she murmurs, hazel eyes soft.

Scorpius tries to think where this is heading, but he's not particularly known for his knowledgeability when it comes to figuring out girls and their ways. Instead he shakes his head and opens his mouth to defend himself against possible accusations that might be thrown his way - Millie is a Slytherin, after all, and usually such questions have ulterior motives.

She leans forward and kisses him full on the mouth, defying any possible outcomes he had predicted, and the world goes impossibly still. It seems as though the world is a radio that someone has lowered the volume of, and the sound of water lapping at the shore of the Black Lake dims and all the buzzing flies seem suddenly quietened.

She pulls away, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards at Scorpius's shocked expression. "Do you want me to be your girlfriend?"

It takes him a little while to recover (recovering from surprises aren't his strong point, either), but when he finally does he simply closes the distance between them and kisses her again.

* * *

Strangely enough, it's because of Millie that Scorpius starts talking to Lily. Sometime during Lily's fourth-year, she develops a crush on Scorpius's best friend Bellamy, and because Lily happens to be best friends with Millie's little sister Octavia, word gets around to Millie about this.

Millie stalks up to him one day, a determined expression upon her face as she ushers him into a more secretive corner of the Slytherin common room and shoves him against the cold stone wall (he half-wonders whether this is going to lead to a very public snogging session). She glances around her, eyes narrowed to make sure that nobody is going to dare to listen in.

Once satisfied, she turns back to him and hisses. "Scorpius, you and I are going to be match-makers."

He blinks at his girlfriend, not sure he is so keen on this idea. However Millie is somewhat more dominant in their relationship than he is, and the only time he'd get his way is if he kicked up a fuss - which he's too lazy to do at the moment.

"Match-makers for who?" he sighs in resignation.

An evil glimmer enters her sharp eyes. "Bellamy and Lily Potter."

If he was drinking pumpkin juice, it would have sprayed all over Millie. His voice rises a few notches in volume. "Millie, what the _fu-_"

"Shhh!" Millie shushes him, placing her hand over his mouth. They are attracting several curious looks from the other common room inhabitants, and one of the seventh-years shoots them a disapproving look.

Scorpius shifts so that his back isn't pressed so uncomfortably against the stony wall, removing her hand from his face gently. "I mean, why?"

She shrugs, examining her fingernails. "Well, Octavia told me that Lily has the hots for him."

"It won't work - she's too young for him," Scorpius states. He's not sure exactly why, but he really doesn't want Lily to end up with Bellamy. He puts it down to the fact that he's being a compassionate human being and doesn't want Bellamy to hurt an innocent fourth-year. After all, Bellamy does have somewhat of a reputation for breaking hearts, whether it be on purpose or not.

"She's fifteen next month - he's not going to be seventeen until August. Hardly a big age gap."

"Yes, but... well... what do you want me to do about it?" he mumbles helplessly, waving his hands around.

"Talk to Bellamy. Ask him if he could ever see her in that way," it all sounds so simple when Millie says it, but Scorpius sees an infinite amount of barriers. Not even counting the fact that he likes to do what feels right and the idea of Bellamy and Lily becoming BellamyandLily is_ wrongwrongwrong_.

"Fine, I'll talk to him. But I'm not promising anything," he scratches the back of his head, not looking forward to this.

Millie's smile is radiant, and she pecks him on the lips. "Wonderful."

* * *

Bellamy does start going out with Lily, much to Scorpius's surprise (and dismay, but he's not really sure why he feels dismayed). They last all of three months before Bellamy gets bored and tells Lily that he likes another girl.

Scorpius half-expects to find Lily in tears (most girls that he's seen after a break-up have tears running down their faces), but instead she approaches him one day after his Potions class, a smile on her face.

"Scorpius, Octavia told me that you had something to do with me and Bellamy? Getting together, that is," she hastily adds, the smile still on her face.

Scorpius blinks at her (why is he always in situations that are unpredictable?). "Um... yeah... I suppose... I mean... I think so."

She surprises him even more by standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. "Well, I know that it didn't end so well, but thanks anyway. I'd never have gotten up the courage to ask him out myself."

She trots off without another word, leaving the boy more than a little confused. It seems so strange that she is comfortable enough to not only have been broken-up with, but also to talk to a complete stranger about said broken-up relationship.

"Strange girl," he murmurs to himself, ignoring the way that his heart is doing a little triumphant parade at the fact that she kissed him - even if it was on the cheek.

* * *

After that, Lily starts talking more to Scorpius. He might be sitting under a tree near the Black Lake, and she'll deposit herself next to him and strike up a cheerful conversation about the weather or schoolwork. Or he could be rubbing his eyes tiredly in the library whilst he prepares himself for the seventh-year NEWTs, and she'll decide to ask him questions about Transfiguration or Potions or whatever subject he'll happen to be studying. Occasionally, she even bounds up to him on the weekends and asks him to help her with her essay (even though they both know that essay-writing is not his forte, and that he instead excels at the practical, more hands-on parts of his classes).

Yet it's not until halfway through the first term of his seventh-year that he discovers he actually likes her as more than that jumpy little (for she's barely five foot four) Hufflepuff girl who likes to intrude upon his studying-hours in the library. Like most things in Scorpius's life, he discovers it by accident when she falls asleep one night when they're in the library (he's studying later than usual, and she cheerfully decides to keep him company).

They're tucked away in a corner of the library, surrounded by shelves upon shelves of dusty well-worn books, the smell of old parchment and cobwebs filling his nostrils - the kind of scent that makes one think of mysteries and dark corners where anything could happen. The armchair he's sitting on is worn in many places, bits of it poking out here and there. His essay-parchment and inkstand are resting on the vandalised table - he can just make out the words_ Chudley Cannons Rule!_ scratched into the wood of the tabletop.

He places his quill by his inkstand, creative juices sapped by the long hours of studying. He leans back in the armchair (it creaks accommodatingly), and his eyes rest on her thoughtfully.

Her bright red hair envelops her face, somehow making her usually pale face seem brighter and adding colour to it. Thin, blue-veined eyelids flutter in her sleep and there's a tiny frown on her lips (which seems strange, as she never frowns when she's awake). A hand dangles down from the sofa that she's lying on, fingertips almost touching the floor - the other hand is still clutching the book on Herbology that she was reading.

He absorbs this all with fascinated eyes (feeling slightly creepy nevertheless - who watches people in their sleep?). Somehow the idea of dragging his eyes away from her seems a feat near impossible.

After a few minutes of internal struggle, he manages to glance back at the quill on the table. His forehead wrinkles up as he begins to get an inkling of what is happening to him, of why he can't quite seem to look away from her.

He breaks up with Millie the next day.

* * *

"_Scorpius!_" Millie hisses, sliding into the seat next to him, much to his dismay. Although Millie did take the news remarkably well (even going so far as to say that she should have seen it coming), Scorpius couldn't help but feel slightly awkward around her now.

"Mmph?" Scorpius manages, through a mouthful of bread. It's dinnertime and he's absolutely starving - turns out studying for insane amounts of time does wonders for one's appetite.

Her eyes narrow in typical Millie-fashion. "Is it true that you broke up with me because of another girl?"

He chokes on his food, and if it hadn't been for Lourdes thumping him on the back vigorously, he's pretty sure he would have died from lack of oxygen (both due to the fact that he couldn't breathe round the choking gasps, and also because the thought of Millie finding out about his feelings for Lily was frightening enough to send him into hyperventilation-mode).

"Well?" now Lourdes was listening in on the conversation, too, her bright blue eyes curious.

"Um."

"Oh Merlin! It _is_ true!" Millie exclaims, and Lourdes gasps in dramatic surprise.

"Who is it?" Lourdes peers into his eyes, getting a little too close for comfort.

"Um... nobody," Scorpius lies pathetically, turning his attention back to his plate. Scorpius may have been many things, but he wasn't stupid - no way was he going tell Millie about his newly discovered (and far from platonic) feelings for Lily.

Millie harrumphs and rolls her eyes at him. "I won't be jealous, you know."

Lourdes manages a disbelieving snort, and Scorpius is glad for once that Millie's nature was a vengeful one - she tackles Lourdes without a second thought and Scorpius hastily stuffs the rest of the food into his mouth and and slinks off before Millie can interrogate him again.

* * *

"I hear you broke up with her?" Lily's voice is soft, sympathetic.

They're sitting in the library again, and because his NEWTs are finally over and it's the last two weeks of school, he's not studying anymore. Instead, a pleasantly light book about Quidditch is in his hands, and he's vaguely flipping through it, not really paying much attention to the content (it's Lily's fault that he's not even managed to read a full paragraph - 'distraction' is her middle name).

"Who? Millie?"

Lily rolls her eyes in a way disturbingly similar to Millie. "No, Professor Longbottom."

Scorpius snorts, not bothering to retort. Lily prods him, however, and he realises he has yet to answer her question. "Um... well, yes. About a week ago."

"Why? I thought you guys were really good together."

"We were, I suppose. But... I... well...," how to put it in a way that not only tells her he likes her but also doesn't make him sound like a fool? "... um... yeah..."

Score one for Scorpius.

Lily giggles, and for some unnerving reason he swears his heart starts doing crazy little somersaults. Her eyes light up, a sure sign of mischief, and she leans forward until she's practically on top of him. The situation does stop his heart from somersaulting - it decides to go bungee-jumping instead.

"Can I tell you a story?" she asks finally (and he feels a little disappointed - the last time a girl unexpectedly put her face so near his, she asked him to go out with her and he had kind of hoped that this situation would end similarly).

"Um..."

"Once upon a time, there was a girl called Lily Luna Potter and she went to a school called Hogwarts. When she was fourteen, she thought she was in love with a boy called Bellamy Flint and they went out for a few months, but she realised that what she felt for him wasn't really love - just teenage lust or hormones or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, they broke up and Lily started to be friends with Bellamy's best friend, a boy called Scorpius Malfoy. And you know what happened next?"

"What?" he swears that he's never been paying more attention to somebody else than he is to the red-headed girl in front of him.

"Well, Lily realised that he's everything she's ever been looking for, and one day they're in the library and they're talking and she decides to kiss him," and then suddenly she's kissing him and it's as though his heart has changed its rhythm and is now doing a hearty little tap-dance, and even though his eyes close he's pretty sure he can see fireworks - and hear - fireworks go off (of course, he will never admit this to anybody because it's downright soppy and the kind of thought no self-respecting Slytherin boy ought ever to have).

She leans back and beams down at him with the same smile that tripped him up five years before. "So, what did you think of my story?"

"Truthfully? It's the shittiest, cheesiest story I've ever heard," he says bluntly, gazing up at her.

If possible, her smile grows even wider and then she sticks her tongue out at him and crosses her eyes.

He can't help it - he laughs.


End file.
